It's the Only Way I Know How to Feel
by Zabria Rose
Summary: Zelink minor fluff. But then again not really. Set right after Ocarina of Time's final boss battle, the cutscene where Zelda sends Link back through time. With a twist. Rated K plus for safety.


It's the Only Way I Know How to Feel

Zelink

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**Not-So-Short Author's Note: Hey. Um. Yeah. This is to hold all of you over until I finally finish the next chapter of _Left to Fate. _I'm not even close to halfway done since I want to make it a super long one as an apology for my hiatus on this website. So you get a fluffy Zelink oneshot. I'll try to get more one-shots out and then maybe I won't lose all my readers ever. Kay. Self-indulgent mini-rant over, enjoy the story! :D**

xxx

I feel like I should be happy.

But I'm not.

Gannondorf is defeated, Hyrule is saved. It's over.

So why am I so depressed?

Zelda is sitting in front of me, giving me a speech or something. I'm not listening. I'm looking at her in all her beauty and being sad.

I'm not sad that Gannondorf is gone.

I'm not sad that Hyrule is safe.

I'm not sad that I've already cleared out the once-sacred temples.

No.

I'm sad that she's sending me back.

"Zelda, stop."

"W...what?"

"I don't want to go back."

"I want to give you your childhood back! Make everything go back to the way it was seven years ago- as if none of this had ever happened!"

"I don't regret anything. I don't want to go back, Zelda!"

"But I regret everything! Let me give you back what you lost!"

I felt the anger bubble up inside me. I was being irrational.

"I don't want to go back!"

"You need those seven years, Link, and nobody should have to remember this."

"I don't want to forget!"

"Yes, you do. Give me the Ocarina, Link."

Her hand sat there, waiting for it. But I wasn't going to give it to her. Not like this. Not after everything I'd done for her. After everything I'd ever felt. I couldn't just go back and forget everything. I couldn't- and I wouldn't- do it. Nothing she said would convince me otherwise.

"No. I won't. Zelda, please listen to me. I don't want to go back or forget anything that I went through. It's too precious to me."

"Don't you want to see Saria again!? If you don't go back, Saria will be stuck as a sage until your natural death, Link. Do you really want to force that on her?"

"It's her _job!" _I replied angrily. "She doesn't mind! And it's okay if I don't see Saria again. I don't mind! This last portion of my life is precious to me! Yeah, I lost seven years. But what's seven years when I still have the rest of my life to live? These experiences make me who I am."

"How can this be so important to you? You've killed countless creatures, been injured so many times, and as you said, lost seven years of your life. Which, might I add, is quite a few years! Why won't you go back!?"

"Because it's all I know! If I go back, nothing will be the same."

"But I'll make you forget by sending you back! It'll be as if none of this ever happened!"

"Zelda, listen to the words I'm saying! _I don't want to forget!"_

"But you have to!"

Zelda was angry too. I was not going to back down, but neither was she. I didn't mind. I had a long time to sit up here and argue until one of us got tired and gave up.

"Why are you fighting me so hard about me wanting to stay?"

"Because... because I- you-!"

"What are you running from?"

"I'm not running from anything!"

I looked at her. Zelda's cheeks were flushed from either embarrassment, anger, or a combination of the two, and her golden hair was slightly ruffled from the battle against Gannondorf. I zeroed in on her sapphire eyes, which were slightly narrowed.

There was something other than anger there. I couldn't quite figure out what, but it was almost pain.

Why was Zelda in pain?

Was it even pain at all?

Or was it something entirely different that I felt inside myself, too?

There _was _something that I felt in me, too. After all these years, fighting for her kingdom, protecting the place she loved so much, there was something there.

You can't fight protecting the things someone loves so much without starting to love them, too.

Initially, when I was eleven, I was fighting for Saria and the rest of the Kokiri, not to mention the Deku Tree. They were my family. Even the jerk Mido, as much as I disliked him.

Then I met the Gorons. They needed help. They were starving, and sad, and I realized it was more than just my home that I was fighting for. I was fighting for my home and the Gorons.

When I met the Zoras, it was hard to tell that something was wrong. Except for the fact that King Zora was missing his daughter, Ruto. Ruto needed my help. King Zora needed my help. And, subsequently, the rest of the Zoras needed my help too. I was fighting for my home, the Gorons, and the Zoras.

When I went back to report to Zelda- and thought that I was ending the nightmare then and there- I saw Gannondorf.

That's when it made sense.

I wasn't just fighting for one race. I was fighting for all of them. I was fighting for the Kokiri, the Hylians, the Zoras, the Gorons, even the Gerudos and Sheikah, whom I'd barely even met at that point.

I was fighting for the freedom of Hyrule.

Then, when I went into the Temple of Time and progressed seven years, my first thought was the princess of Hyrule. If I was fighting for her kingdom, I needed her princess to be safe too.

But Zelda was missing. Just... gone without a trace. Zelda, the princess I'd always been fighting for in the back of my mind, was missing.

So I fought harder.

And in my heart, when I saw her again for the first time in years, felt like it was going to burst.

Because by fighting for her kingdom, I'd made her the girl I was fighting for. Even more than Saria, a sage.

I could feel it in my chest every time I thought of her in the last battle. It was all I felt as I fought, until it was over.

Then the depression sank in.

It was over.

I didn't have anything to fight anymore and she was leaving me. Putting me back seven years in the past.

But what's occurring to me now is that maybe she's running from that which I've embraced.

"Zelda... why are you running from what you feel?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Zelda. I've traversed deserts, lakes, and mountains just to rescue what you love. Doesn't that mean something?"

"W-well..."

"As you mentioned, I fought countless enemies, even defeated the most dangerous of them all. Why would I do that?"

"B-because you love Hyrule..."

"No. Not because I love Hyrule. Because I love you, Zelda. Being in love can make people do crazy things. I've accepted the fact that I love you, but you're running. You want to send me back in time, make me forget that I love you, so that you don't have to deal with these feelings. You're taking the easy way out."

"No, I'm-!"

"Don't deny it, Zelda," I said. "Please don't deny it. I don't want you to deny it because if you do, that means I'm wrong and my love is unrequited. And I don't want to deal with _that."_

"I'm not denying it because you're right!" she said angrily. "You're always right! You've always been right this whole time and I'm angry because of it. For Nayru's sake, I'm supposed to represent wisdom. Where is that wisdom when I need it?"

"Telling me was wise, Princess," I told her in a soft voice. "You've always been wise, too. But wisdom doesn't always shine, even for the wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom."

"Shut up."

"Don't send me back, Zelda," I plead once more. "I don't want to forget you or anything. Because if I forget this... how can I love you?"

"I don't want you to forget, but..."

The Ocarina is clutched in my hands.

"Zelda, don't do this."

"You can't love me, Link. How could you ever feel that way if all I've ever done is make you fight things? You've always done it willingly, but that doesn't make it true love. I still thing that you love Hyrule and not me. How can you feel that way?"

"Because it's the only way that I know how to feel!"

Before I could say anything else, she snatched the Ocarina from my hand and held it up to her lips.

"I don't want you to forget, but this is the way it has to be... I'm sorry, Link. And for the record... I love you, too."

Without another word, she played the Ocarina and I felt myself drift back through time, memories fading away faster than I could think. I desperately tried to hold on to a memory, begging at least one out-of place one to stay.

Three of her words rang in my head...

_I love you..._

_I love you..._

_I love you..._

But wasn't that all just a dream?

.:FIN:.

xxx

**Not-So-Short Author's Note: And there you have it! Post Ocarina of Time stuff. It's supposed to be that cutscene (that I honestly don't remember that well, considering I have only finished the game like once) where Zelda sends Link back through time, up in like the clouds... or something? I don't remember.**

**Anyway, I kind of like how it turned out, even though I like ramble in Link's head for a lot of it, and then the rest is super dialogue-heavy. And this is based off of what I feel that Link feels for Zelda in the game, kind of. I don't know. Zelink has been my favorite pairing as of late. I re-read Rose Zemlya's story _Legend of Zelda: The Return _somewhat recently, and then found via Tumblr zestycrouton's story _Hit List. _(By the way, both are amazing and you should go read them. Although, _Hit List _is insanely intense from the action, and _The Return _is very long. But I recommend them, they are very good reads!)**

**Aaaaaanyyway, I hope this holds you all over until I can get to finishing _Left to Fate_'s next chapter, which is like going to be amazing if all goes well. So four and a half pages in Open Office for this, so enjoy some writings. I'll be back soon with LtF, pinkie promise!**

***ZabriaRose***


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